explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2292: Thermometer

2020-04-12T07:56:00Z

172.69.6.22: Arguing against calling this a Covid-19 comic

First non-Covid post other than April fools?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.167|162.158.107.167]]
23:04, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
:Since a fever is a common symptom of Covid-19, I'd say this is as much about Covid-19 as all the previous comics on the topic. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 02:59, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
::I'd disagree. Fevers aren't inherently related to COVID-19, and while it's certainly easy to draw a connection based on current events, at no point is the connection made explicit. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.104|172.69.34.104]] 10:29, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
:::Seriously? Fever is associated with 88% of COVID-19 cases! I'd say that's inherently related, and I'm drawing a connection based on that fact. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 12:59, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
::::Fevers are associated with almost all infectious diseases. By that logic, this could be about the flu, mono, or a hundred other conditions. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 17:24, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
:::::I, too, think calling this a Covid-19 comic is excessive. Sure, thermometers for measuring body temperature are sold out at my local drugstore, and pandemic likely inspired the comic, but if it had been published a year ago, we wouldn't infer any connection to a specific disease or global epidemic. - Ada in New Hampshire, USA [[Special:Contributions/172.69.6.22|172.69.6.22]] 07:56, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

A common practice in schools and the like prior to quarantine was temperature taking upon arrival. So it's like that this comic continues that to the home setting. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.112|162.158.78.112]] 23:19, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

A pessimist would guess that this means someone in Randall's household has a fever. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.52|108.162.219.52]] 23:26, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

> The Physician Ducks[[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.94|172.69.62.94]] 23:32, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Personally I'd welcome a home thermometer marked off in Kelvin, avois all the "twice as cold" sort of confusion you can get with an arbitrary zero as used in Celsius and Fahrenheit. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 23:21, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

I might have enjoyed a "Degrees of Kevin Bacon" joke in this comic somewhere. :-) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.143|172.69.68.143]] 23:42, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Double-plus-dissapointed we didn't get the Delisle measure referenced at all... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 01:17, 11 April 2020 (UTC) ...and now added. It would be better in any Trivia section, but we don't have one so hoping it's no more out of place in the explanation as Fahrenheit. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 02:02, 11 April 2020 (UTC) ...''aaaand'' someone removed it (as pure trivia, of course), fair enough. Anticipated. Anyone still interested in what I put just needs to check this IP, at about this timestamp, in Page History, though, so not going to argue the point. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.202|162.158.34.202]] 02:08, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

No temperature scale is defined using melting or boiling points of water anymore. Since 2019 Kelvin is defined via the Boltzmann constant, and all other temperature scales have been (re-)defined relative to the Kelvin scale for quite a while. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.103|172.69.63.103]] 01:24, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Randall forgot the Réaumur scale.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.97|162.158.123.97]] 03:00, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

I'm not sure why some people seem to look for any opportunity to take a dig at the US, but I removed the line in the explanation about US-based readers not being familiar with the Celsius temperature scale. I'm sure most Americans are familiar with it but prefer the Fahrenheit scale instead. I don't understand why anyone holds that against us. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 03:04, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
:Hey, let's assume good faith. Chances are, some rando just genuinely had no idea how that kind of stuff works here. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.104|172.69.34.104]] 10:22, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Regarding USA Fahrenheit and non-USA Celsius preference, I was in Niagra Falls a few years back, listening to a Canadian station on the radio (ok, more than a few years ago...) and the DJ gave a weather report, saying “The current temperature is 25 degrees, that’s 77 on the understandable scale.” [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.201|173.245.54.201]] 04:22, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

I guess if you wanted to use the Newton scale you'd need to have Newton's original "degrees of heat" measuring device. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.67|108.162.250.67]] 04:31, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Nitpicking alert : the correct writing is "kelvin", not "Kelvin".

100°F is "really hot"? Maybe on a stripper... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.190.106|162.158.190.106]] 13:00, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Randall, as a physicist, should know about the equipartition theorem. It states that all degrees of freedom will carry the same average amount of energy in thermal equilibrium, not only the translational kinetic ones (but also rotational, and potential energies). It is technically not false to exclude some of these, but an arbitrary choice. I guess he just wanted to include the terms “translational” and “kinetic” to make sure it sounds ridiculously over-specific (which works well). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.213|162.158.91.213]] 15:07, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Well, it has Fahrenheit after a fashion. Just substract 460 from Rankine. It's even easier than converting Kelvin to Celsius!
:I find it much quicker to subtract 0.01C° 27,315 times than to subtract 0.01F° 45,967 times, personally. I think you're quite barmy to suggest otherwise, Unsigned... :P [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.222|162.158.34.222]] 16:17, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
::Now that I, the formerly Unsigned, think of it, I must agree with you - but for an entirely different reason. 273.15 in binary is a nice, round 100010001.001(00101) with 3 1's in the integer and 4+2n 1's for every 3+5n fractional digits, whereas 459.67 is much messier: 111001011.10110001111110... , with 6 1's in the integer alone. The more 1's there are in a number, the more operations you have to do for each addition or subtraction. So in binary, Kelvin-to-Celsius is much easier to convert than Rankine-to-Fahrenheit. Yet another point in favor of the glorious metric master system, da? [[User:Osato|Osato]] ([[User talk:Osato|talk]]) 19:57, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

I removed the weasel words, indicating that Fahrenheit is "generally appreciated" because 0 means very cold and 100 very hot. I adjusted it to "some claim" and adjusted the text to fit.

Make the scale in Celsius 0 to 200, and I think you would have a system much more relatable to Fahrenheit users.

1952: Backpack Decisions

2018-02-07T17:30:25Z

172.69.6.22: /* Explanation */ I don't think he's talking to himself

{{comic
| number = 1952
| date = February 7, 2018
| title = Backpack Decisions
| image = backpack_decisions.png
| titletext = "This one is perfect in every way, except that for some reason it's woven from a tungsten mesh, so it weighs 85 pounds and I'll need to carry it around on a hand cart." "That seems like a bad--" "BUT IT HAS THE PERFECT POCKET ARRANGEMENT!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Tungsten Mesh Backpack - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]], apparently representing [[Randall]], is having issues choosing a good backpack. He notices their different features and is indecisive. The chart below shows that he spends more time unsure of what backpack to pick than of any other such major choice as a college or a car.

The title text is Cueball having a conversation about a backpack, which seems to be (absurdly) made of heavy tungsten mesh. In fact, it is so heavy that Cueball thinks he will need to carry it around in a cart, defeating the purpose of the backpack. However, Cueball considers it simply because of the perfect pocket arrangement, which he cannot use anyway due to the backpack's heaviness.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[Cueball stands in front of a display exclusively of backpacks, with two at his feet along with a messenger bag (or satchel). He thinks to himself:]

It's down to two: the one with the charger pocket and the one with—

Wait, that other one is ''waterproof!''

Ugh. Do I even ''want'' a backpack?

Maybe I should be looking at messenger bags again.

OK, starting over.

[Caption below the comic:]

Amount of time I've spent paralyzed by indecision over choosing the right...

[A bar graph. Each label is followed by a bar representing the amount of time:]

College [short bar, not quite as long as laptop]

Phone [short bar, a little longer than car]

Apartment [short bar, a little longer than phone]

Car [shortest bar, less than half as long as college]

Laptop [short bar, about as wide as the word "LAPTOP"; the longest of the short bars]

Backpack [longest bar, four times longer than laptop]

{{comic discussion}}

1952: Backpack Decisions

2018-02-07T17:28:01Z

172.69.6.22: /* Transcript */ note that it's a bar graph

{{comic
| number = 1952
| date = February 7, 2018
| title = Backpack Decisions
| image = backpack_decisions.png
| titletext = "This one is perfect in every way, except that for some reason it's woven from a tungsten mesh, so it weighs 85 pounds and I'll need to carry it around on a hand cart." "That seems like a bad--" "BUT IT HAS THE PERFECT POCKET ARRANGEMENT!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Tungsten Mesh Backpack - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]], apparently representing [[Randall]], is having issues choosing a good backpack. He notices their different features and is indecisive. The chart below shows that he spends more time unsure of what backpack to pick than of any other such major choice as a college or a car.

The title text is apparently Cueball talking to himself about a backpack, which seems to be (absurdly) made of heavy tungsten mesh. In fact, it is so heavy that Cueball thinks he will need to carry it around in a cart, defeating the purpose of the backpack. However, Cueball considers it simply because of the perfect pocket arrangement, which he cannot use anyway due to the backpack's heaviness.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[Cueball stands in front of a display exclusively of backpacks, with two at his feet along with a messenger bag (or satchel). He thinks to himself:]

It's down to two: the one with the charger pocket and the one with—

Wait, that other one is ''waterproof!''

Ugh. Do I even ''want'' a backpack?

Maybe I should be looking at messenger bags again.

OK, starting over.

[Caption below the comic:]

Amount of time I've spent paralyzed by indecision over choosing the right...

[A bar graph. Each label is followed by a bar representing the amount of time:]

College [short bar, not quite as long as laptop]

Phone [short bar, a little longer than car]

Apartment [short bar, a little longer than phone]

Car [shortest bar, less than half as long as college]

Laptop [short bar, about as wide as the word "LAPTOP"; the longest of the short bars]

Backpack [longest bar, four times longer than laptop]

{{comic discussion}}

1952: Backpack Decisions

2018-02-07T17:26:40Z

172.69.6.22: /* Transcript */ some basic reorganization and formatting of the transcript; I took a wild stab at describing the length of the bars that someone else will probably completely redo in some different way

{{comic
| number = 1952
| date = February 7, 2018
| title = Backpack Decisions
| image = backpack_decisions.png
| titletext = "This one is perfect in every way, except that for some reason it's woven from a tungsten mesh, so it weighs 85 pounds and I'll need to carry it around on a hand cart." "That seems like a bad--" "BUT IT HAS THE PERFECT POCKET ARRANGEMENT!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Tungsten Mesh Backpack - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]], apparently representing [[Randall]], is having issues choosing a good backpack. He notices their different features and is indecisive. The chart below shows that he spends more time unsure of what backpack to pick than of any other such major choice as a college or a car.

The title text is apparently Cueball talking to himself about a backpack, which seems to be (absurdly) made of heavy tungsten mesh. In fact, it is so heavy that Cueball thinks he will need to carry it around in a cart, defeating the purpose of the backpack. However, Cueball considers it simply because of the perfect pocket arrangement, which he cannot use anyway due to the backpack's heaviness.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[Cueball stands in front of a display exclusively of backpacks, with two at his feet along with a messenger bag (or satchel). He thinks to himself:]

It's down to two: the one with the charger pocket and the one with—

Wait, that other one is ''waterproof!''

Ugh. Do I even ''want'' a backpack?

Maybe I should be looking at messenger bags again.

OK, starting over.

[Caption below the comic:]

Amount of time I've spent paralyzed by indecision over choosing the right...

College [short bar, not quite as long as laptop]

Phone [short bar, a little longer than car]

Apartment [short bar, a little longer than phone]

Car [shortest bar, less than half as long as college]

Laptop [short bar, about as wide as the word "LAPTOP"; the longest of the short bars]

Backpack [longest bar, four times longer than laptop]

{{comic discussion}}